Saturday, December 12, 2009

Monk Ignatius was born in the 1860's decade. Feeling the monastic calling, he entered the Monastery of Saint Onouphrios at Giabletsna, the only monastery in the region of Helm that had never in its history succumbed to the Unia. After the normal trial period of a novice, he was tonsured monk with the name Ignatius.

During the difficult years of Orthodoxy after the end of the 1st World War and until the end of the 2nd World War, Fr. Ignatius was one of the most virtuous and older monks of the Monastery, who, with prayers and admonitions supported the Orthodox pilgrims who were coming to venerate the miraculous icon of Saint Onouphrios.

When the 2nd World War began, the life of the monks became unbearable, due to many raids by the papist rebels, who looted the monastery and threatened the monks with death if they would not depart from their penitence. The papists seeing the firmness and persistence of the monks to Orthodoxy and to their monastery, in collaboration with German soldiers whom they had predisposed against the monks, they raided the monastery during the night of the 9th August 1942. They scattered the monks who then took refuge into the nearest forest, they looted the monastery, set it on fire and guarded it so that no one try to put the fire out. All the monks were overtaken by fear and only Ignatius felt sorry for his monastery and not accepting its desecration returned to it and with great caution went up to the belfry and started to toll the bells so that the people at the nearest village would understand the destruction and run for help. Then the raiders with rage brought him down and having tortured him in many different ways, they murdered him.

The Holy Martyr Ignatius was buried at the cemetery of the monastery. In the spring of 2003 his tomb was opened and his relics were placed in the reliquary of the main Church of the Monastery.